- US navy chief says $14 billion arms sale to Taiwan paused due to Iran war
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“The US is pausing a $14bn (£10.4bn) arms sale to Taiwan to ensure it has enough weapons for the Iran war, acting Navy secretary Hung Cao has said. Cao confirmed this at a Senate hearing, days after President Donald Trump appeared non-committal about the sale following his meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. A spokesperson for Taiwan’s presidential office told reporters on Friday that they had not received any information about ‘US adjustments to the arms sale.’ The sale of US arms to Taiwan has long irked Beijing, which [pretends] the self-governed island [i]s its territory and has not ruled out taking it by force.” (05/22/26)
- Canada: Alberta voters to vote on prospective secession
Source: Politico
“Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her United Conservative Party government will hold a referendum in October to ask Albertans if they want to remain in Canada, or start the process toward a binding separation referendum. … The announcement marks an escalation of separatist tensions in the oil-rich and staunchly conservative province, a flashpoint that will test Prime Minister Mark Carney’s leadership as Ottawa is forced to respond to a growing national unity crisis. For months, Smith been under fire from separatist groups demanding a vote on Alberta leaving Canada, a push largely driven by Stay Free Alberta, a grassroots movement that claims to have collected more than 300,000 signatures in support of a separation referendum.” (05/21/26)
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/21/alberta-separation-referendum-00933323
- Judges in Maine, Wisconsin dismiss federal demands for voter rolls
Source: Yahoo! News
“Federal judges in Maine and Wisconsin on Thursday dismissed lawsuits filed by the U.S. Department of Justice seeking to compel the states to hand over detailed voter registration information. U.S. District Judge James Pederson in Wisconsin said the state’s voter registration list is not a record that can be requested under the Civil Rights Act of 1960, as President Donald Trump’s administration argued. In Maine, Chief U.S. District Judge Lance Walker described the government’s claim as ‘half-hearted’ and granted a state motion to dismiss it. The rulings were the latest in a string of defeats for the Trump administration in its attempts to force states to turn over voter rolls. … The DOJ has sued at least 30 states and the District of Columbia seeking to force release of the detailed voter data. It includes information such as dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.” (05/21/26)
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/judges-maine-wisconsin-dismiss-justice-211527091.html
- Iranian, Omani Regimes Discuss Hormuz Toll Regime as Rubio Whines
Source: gCaptain
“Iran is discussing with Oman how to set up some form of a permanent toll system that will formalize its control of maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. … ‘We’ve always said a tolling system in the strait would be unacceptable,’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Thursday when asked about Iran’s intentions. ‘No one in the world is in favor of a tolling system. It can’t happen. It would make a diplomatic deal unfeasible. It’s a threat to the world that they would try to do that, and it’s completely illegal.’ … Iran refuses to reopen the Strait of Hormuz until the US agrees to lift its naval blockade of Iranian ports.” (05/21/26)
https://gcaptain.com/iran-and-oman-discuss-hormuz-toll-regime-as-rubio-warns-it-cant-happen/
- Russia holds nuclear drills on land, sea and air, joined by its ally Belarus
Source: SFGate
“Trucks carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles rumbled over forest roads, atomic-powered submarines set sail from Arctic and Pacific ports, and crews scrambled into warplanes as Russia and neighboring Belarus held the final stage of their joint nuclear drills Thursday. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko inspected Russian short-range nuclear-capable Iskander ballistic missiles at a military unit involved in the drills …. The three-day drills that began Tuesday come amid a surge in Ukrainian drone strikes, including on Moscow’s suburbs that killed three people and damaged several buildings and industrial facilities. The strikes made it harder for officials in the Kremlin to cast the conflict in Ukraine — now in its fifth year — as something so distant that it doesn’t affect the daily routines of Russian civilians. Russia’s Defense Ministry said the exercise involved 64,000 troops, over 200 missile launchers, more than 140 aircraft, 73 surface warships and 13 submarines, including eight armed with nuclear-tipped ICBMs.” (05/21/26)
- US jobless claims fall to 209,000
Source: Quartz
“Applications for U.S. unemployment benefits fell last week to their lowest level in months, offering another sign that layoffs remain muted despite a range of economic pressures. Thursday’s Labor Department report showed 209,000 new applications for the week ending May 16, a decline of 3,000 from the previous week. The result came in below the 213,000 that FactSet-surveyed analysts had expected. At 202,500, the four-week average — which irons out week-to-week swings — marked its lowest reading since 2024, Bloomberg noted, representing a 1,500-point drop. Continuing claims, covering the week ending May 9, climbed to 1.78 million, an increase of 6,000.” (05/21/26)
- Only a Fool or a Politician Would Cap Food Prices
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Andrew Lilico“It sounds so simple. If consumers are suffering because prices are going up, then forbid that. Who could object, beyond greedy firms profiteering by pushing prices up? … If the government caps the prices of supermarket products, that will make those products unprofitable for the supermarket to stock and also mean that consumers have to pay less for them than their economic value, the consequence being that they will sell out and not be available. Why would I, as a consumer, want key products to be unavailable in supermarkets?” (05/21/26)
https://fee.org/articles/only-a-fool-or-a-politician-would-cap-food-prices/
- Trump’s Approval Rating Is Cratering. Tariffs Are a Big Reason Why.
Source: Reason
by Veronique de Rugy“Donald Trump is now an unpopular president. Some of this dissatisfaction is due to the war in Iran. Some of it springs from the unanticipated speed, chaos, and perceived brutality of several of his administration’s actions over the past year and a half. But a significant part of his political problem has a straightforward economic explanation: Everything feels expensive, and his tariffs are a major reason why. If the president wants to help himself and his party ahead of this year’s midterm elections, the most effective thing he can do is eliminate the tariffs. The evidence in favor of this move is overwhelming, and it comes from his own tenure.” (05/21/26)
https://reason.com/2026/05/21/trumps-approval-rating-is-cratering-tariffs-are-a-big-reason-why/
- Charge Obama? Great Idea, But Unlikely
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp“I’d love to see Barack Obama charged with, tried for, and convicted of crimes that we know beyond a shadow of a doubt he’s guilty of. For example: Obama ordered the murders of at least two American citizens, Anwar al-Awlaki and his son, Abdulrahman Anwar al-Awlaki (Donald Trump later ordered the murder of eight-year-old Nawar Anwar al-Awlaki, also a US citizen). Obama also illegally took the US to war in Libya, never even seeking the constitutionally required declaration of war. For those crimes, and many others, I’d very much like to see Obama face legal consequences. But there’s a problem with the idea …” (05/21/26)
- The Boring Trump-Xi Summit: Boring Is Good
Source: Antiwar.com
by Ted Galen Carpenter“Critics of the May 2026 summit between President Trump and Xi Jinping, president of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), widely condemned the outcome as being long on pomp and ceremony but short on meaningful substantive results. They noted that most of the agreements reached, especially on trade and other economic issues, were either preliminary or relatively minor. There was a virtual consensus among the opinion-shaping elites that Trump had secured no major concessions on either his commercial or his security objectives. In other words, the outcome of the summit was rather bland and boring. That criticism may be true, but in international affairs boring is usually good.” (05/21/26)
- Controlled Commerce: The March of a New Global Economic Order
Source: The Daily Economy
by Stefan Bartl“Washington, Beijing, and Brussels are all moving toward state-managed commerce and geopolitical trade blocs. The recent US-China summit accelerates the shift.” (05/21/26)
https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/controlled-commerce-the-march-of-a-new-global-economic-order/
- The vital voice of Congress in launching war
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff“Americans are contending with almost daily shifts in how the Trump administration characterizes the war-slash-ceasefire with Iran that began Feb. 28. Yet just as important to this current Middle East struggle is a series of resolutions proposed in Congress to either end the conflict or seek approval by lawmakers to continue it. On Tuesday – in its eighth such vote since strikes against Iran began – the Senate advanced a measure to debate a requirement of the 1973 War Powers Resolution that a president obtain congressional approval within 60 days of starting a conflict. The House is expected to vote shortly on a similar measure for the fourth time.” [editor’s note: None of these resolutions are necessary — absent a declaration of war, the war is illegal, full stop – TLK] (05/20/26)
- Power and Market, 05/21/26
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
“Ryan, Connor, and Tho discuss the results of the most expensive Congressional race in American history. What does the defeat of Thomas Massie tell us? What does this mean for libertarian strategy? Should we blackpill?” (05/21/26)
https://mises.org/podcasts/power-and-market/post-massie-america
- The Anarchist Experience, episode 581
Source: The Anarchist Experience
“Rich and Riley discuss the modern use and function of AI chatbot girlfriends and explain how the price signal works to the troll in spite of his perfect game theory example.” (05/21/26)
https://theanarchistexperience.wordpress.com/2026/05/22/the-anarchist-experience-581/
- Advisory Opinions, 05/21/26
Source: The Dispatch
“All the Things Wrong with Trump’s Billion-Dollar Fund.” (05/21/26)